The Man Who Loved Only Numbers
The Story of Paul Erdös and the Search for Mathematical Truth
Seiten
1999
4th Estate (Verlag)
978-1-85702-829-4 (ISBN)
4th Estate (Verlag)
978-1-85702-829-4 (ISBN)
- Titel z.Zt. nicht lieferbar
- Portofrei ab CHF 40
- Auch auf Rechnung
- Artikel merken
The biography of a mathematical genius. Paul Erdos was the most prolific pure mathematician in history and, arguably, the strangest too.
’A mathematical genius of the first order, Paul Erdos was totally obsessed with his subject – he thought and wrote mathematics for nineteen hours a day until he died. He travelled constantly, living out of a plastic bag and had no interest in food, sex, companionship, art – all that is usually indispensible to a human life. Paul Hoffman, in this marvellous biography, gives us a vivid and strangely moving portrait of this singular creature, one that brings out not only Erdos’s genius and his oddness, but his warmth and sense of fun, the joyfulness of his strange life.’ Oliver Sacks
For six decades Erdos had no job, no hobbies, no wife, no home; he never learnt to cook, do laundry, drive a car and died a virgin. Instead he travelled the world with his mother in tow, arriving at the doorstep of esteemed mathematicians declaring ‘My brain is open’. He travelled until his death at 83, racing across four continents to prove as many theorems as possible, fuelled by a diet of espresso and amphetamines. With more than 1,500 papers written or co-written, a daily routine of 19 hours of mathematics a day, seven days a week, Paul Erdos was one of the most extraordinary thinkers of our times.
’A mathematical genius of the first order, Paul Erdos was totally obsessed with his subject – he thought and wrote mathematics for nineteen hours a day until he died. He travelled constantly, living out of a plastic bag and had no interest in food, sex, companionship, art – all that is usually indispensible to a human life. Paul Hoffman, in this marvellous biography, gives us a vivid and strangely moving portrait of this singular creature, one that brings out not only Erdos’s genius and his oddness, but his warmth and sense of fun, the joyfulness of his strange life.’ Oliver Sacks
For six decades Erdos had no job, no hobbies, no wife, no home; he never learnt to cook, do laundry, drive a car and died a virgin. Instead he travelled the world with his mother in tow, arriving at the doorstep of esteemed mathematicians declaring ‘My brain is open’. He travelled until his death at 83, racing across four continents to prove as many theorems as possible, fuelled by a diet of espresso and amphetamines. With more than 1,500 papers written or co-written, a daily routine of 19 hours of mathematics a day, seven days a week, Paul Erdos was one of the most extraordinary thinkers of our times.
Paul Hoffman is publisher of Encyclopaedia Brittanica and the science correspondent for The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer on US TV.
Erscheint lt. Verlag | 3.6.1999 |
---|---|
Zusatzinfo | (1 x 16pp b/w) |
Verlagsort | London |
Sprache | englisch |
Maße | 129 x 198 mm |
Gewicht | 240 g |
Themenwelt | Literatur ► Biografien / Erfahrungsberichte |
Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Natur / Technik | |
Mathematik / Informatik ► Mathematik ► Geschichte der Mathematik | |
ISBN-10 | 1-85702-829-5 / 1857028295 |
ISBN-13 | 978-1-85702-829-4 / 9781857028294 |
Zustand | Neuware |
Haben Sie eine Frage zum Produkt? |
Mehr entdecken
aus dem Bereich
aus dem Bereich
Das Jahrhundert, in dem die Mathematik sich neu erfand. 1870-1970
Buch | Hardcover (2022)
Heyne (Verlag)
CHF 30,80
a secret world of intuition and curiosity
Buch | Hardcover (2024)
Yale University Press (Verlag)
CHF 45,80
a global history of Mathematics & its Unsung Trailblazers
Buch | Softcover (2024)
Penguin Books Ltd (Verlag)
CHF 22,65